


Bind Me Close

by PandaFlower



Series: Red Rope AU [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: (very long), Bride-napping, Itama is on a MISSION okay, Izuna is just going along for the ride, M/M, happy holidays!, misunderstandings galore :D, sneaky marriage, strange Senju falling out of trees is not how you start a romance, the long awaited sequel!!!, welcome to joycember where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:07:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21952684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandaFlower/pseuds/PandaFlower
Summary: Itama isABSOLUTELYcertain Tobirama has been bewitched, and he is not going to stand for this!Meanwhile, Izuna has figured out all the answers and is sharing none of them.
Relationships: Senju Itama/Uchiha Izuna
Series: Red Rope AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1348204
Comments: 113
Kudos: 796





	1. In which there are more morons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [puzzle_shipper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/puzzle_shipper/gifts).



> MERRY CHRISTMAS MY DEAR

Every since The Letter — capitals necessary — arrived that morning, Itama has been having an emotion.

Really he was having several of them, but chieftest among them was a swirling amalgam of sweeping shock, buzzing panic, dizzying horror, and a strong urge to vomit. It could be summed up succinctly as; _oh no._

Followed swiftly on its heels by; _what the hell._

And crowded up close by; _how dare those Uchiha bastards bewitch my brother like this!_

So really, it was like three emotions total. A nice sturdy number, the kind of sturdy Itama could really use right now because the normally sturdiest thing in his entire world just stumbled into the stupidest circumstances in the entire world and claimed to be happy about it. Tobirama was clearly not in his right mind, not with an _Uchiha_ involved!

Itama was also jumping to conclusions according to Hashirama. 

Screw Hashirama. 

Hashirama seemed willing to believe their tetchy, reserved, dutiful brother would elope with their greatest enemy of his own free will, and suggested they all calm down and wait and see, it wasn’t as bad as all that.

Touka had responded to that by punching Hashirama in the face before giggle-sobbing hysterically on his shoulder.

Touka was also having an emotion. It appeared to be mostly violence.

“Really, you two, it’s already been an hour,” Hashirama shook his head at them, expertly patting Touka on the back and just as expertly tuning out her direly muttered plans to confront Madara in person for this entire affront. “Tobirama used all the right signals to indicate he was of sound mind and body. Don’t you think the gibbering is a little much?”

“Why aren’t you gibbering?!” Itama demanded, tugging fretfully at his hair. “There’s no way Tobirama would— would do this! He’s not like this. This is exactly the kind of short-sighted, frivolous mess he’d sneer at any other day!”

“And it’s not any other day,” Hashirama pointed out, determinedly patient. “Today is the day he makes a short-sighted, frivolous mess. He’s decided he’s in love. It happens to the best of us.”

Touka pushed away, mouth twisted in a frantic snarl. “ _You don’t know that._ ”

“What she said!” Itama agreed.

“I think,” Hashirama said dryly, “that if he can handle Izuna then the only way he’s letting himself get caught by a lone Uchiha is if he wanted to be.”

Oh gross. Logic. Get that away, Itama wanted nothing to do with it right now.

“Anyway, I better go break the happy news to the elders,” Hashirama said, scooting his desk chair out. “With any luck, Elder Hisoka will have a heart attack on the spot! Some happy news for when Tobirama comes back, wouldn’t that be nice?”

Itama and Touka exchange a Look.

 _I’ll take home base, you steal the package?_ She signs at him.

 _Roger,_ he signs back.

Touka follows Hashirama. Itama ran to pack for a mission.

And he loads for bear.

Twenty minutes later, Itama slips out of the compound and hits the road— er, tree branch highway rather.

Hold on, Tobirama. Little brother’s coming.

* * *

Five minutes of squinting and swearing at a map tells Itama that the town of Ishimura was three days out from the Senju Compound, and close enough to Uchiha territory to incite yet more frustrated swearing; at the universe in general, the Uchiha in less general, and at Tobirama for getting himself in this mess to begin with in specific. Couldn’t his Aniki have gotten himself in trouble closer to an allied clan? And _not_ with an Uchiha? Itama didn’t think that was too much to ask, it was literally the creed of the Senju for the last however many generations.

Regardless, Itama had to be fast or the Uchiha would get to Tobirama first. Er, more so than already. Keyword was rescue here.

Itama bit his lip, studying the map again. Ishimura was three days out… _only_ if he skirted around Uchiha territory. But if he cut through Uchiha territory it would cut off at least a day’s worth of travel taking a more direct route. _If_ he managed to avoid running into any Uchiha patrols, and _if_ he left no trails for them to detect, both very big If’s.

Chin lifting stubbornly, Itama rolled the map up and shoved it back in his pocket. So what if it was perilous? His Aniki was already in peril!

Itama could do this!

No sweat!

Swept up in a new wave of determination, Itama bounds to his feet. The roar of the river heralds the natural borders that divide the territories, here in the northernmost border between Senju and Uchiha is where Itama crosses, intent on cutting diagonally through instead of chancing the more dangerous rapids further ahead. 

The instant he crosses, all the fine hairs on his nape rise, instinctively unnerved by being on enemy land. Uncharted enemy land to be exact. Senju had not trespassed on Uchiha land since the days of his father.

Itama didn’t miss him, that’s for damn sure. 

It’s kind of anticlimactic that the trees on this side look the same on the other side. Weren’t they supposed to creepy, and twisted, and thirsty for blood like in the stories? Maybe the underbrush looks a tad neater, the leafy crowns casting a bit more dappling of gold on the forest floor than Itama expected, but all in all, it’s pretty normal.

“You are _not_ disappointed, stop thinking nonsense,” Itama mutters to himself. So what if he was a _little_ let down by the lack of exciting scenery. He was on a mission here! Stay focused!

Itama sticks as far up the in the crowns as he dares, higher than shinobi usually travel through trees. He moves warily between shadowy spots, keeping one eye on the ground lest he overly disturb the pattern of light on the ground far more than can be explained by animals or wind. It kind of cuts his peripherals when it comes to spotting threats at a distance, but, well. Needs must and all that.

And it’s a good thing he does because the first Uchiha he sees down below is _Uchiha fucking Izuna himself._

Oh for—! Really—! Was this necessary, Merciful Guanyin!?

Itama slows to a halt immediately, tracking Izuna’s path with the focus of a cat who’s spied a bug on the wall.

Izuna’s heading in the same direction Itama is.

_He’s headed to Ishimura._

Hashirama was wrong. Tobirama is in trouble.

_Tobirama is in trouble._

Itama had to do so something.

He follows Izuna.

Itama knows his limits. He knows Izuna’s strength. More importantly, Izuna doesn’t know Itama’s here, where Izuna least suspects an ambush. Itama can _use_ that.

In the meantime, Itama does his best to stay on top of Izuna, flitting through the treetops as light as any bird.

And it works!

Right up until he alights in a fork and a pissed off owl bursts out in his face and screeches at him for the audacity of being so near its nest.

Itama fumbles his landing. His foot twists, slips, and he’s airborne.

“Oh no,” is all he gets out before gravity asserts itself and Itama plummets like a particularly flaily rock. A flaily rock that’s very good at hitting branches but not catching on them. It’s a rare skill. There may have been screaming. Itama isn’t paying attention to such a minor detail.

He does notice when his back collides with someone’s head and shoulders, sending _them_ off their branch. They flail and grapple for each other midfall but Itama has the power of already being in the midst of terror so he wins the tussle and ends up using the poor unfortunate soul as a landing pad.

It’s Izuna.

Of fucking course it is.

Izuna groans weakly, face down and limp. “Owww… What hit me?”

Itama is not one waste an opportunity presented him even when just as disoriented as his quarry. Itama is a third born sibling, he is accustomed to defending himself above _and_ below, he knows what’s up.

As such, Itama wastes no time in scrambling up none too gently — repressing a sympathetic wince when Izuna wheezes pathetically at the sudden knees-to-ribs-and-spine — and proceeds to truss the Uchiha up like a felled goose with sturdy ninja wire. Wrist to wrist, ankle to ankle, tie wrists _to_ ankles, and voila! Uchiha Izuna wasn’t going anywhere.

Izuna’s face when Itama rolled him over was a masterpiece of befuddlement.

“You’re…” Izuna squinted, “Senju Itama?”

“Did you need to think about it for a second?” Itama deadpanned. Izuna had no doubt smacked his head good hitting the ground so Itama supposes he’ll have to forgive him.

Wait, no, Itama smacked his everything falling out of the tree and _he_ still had his wits about him! Izuna was clearly just dumb.

...Itama was in no way offended that he was such a non-entity that Izuna had to _wrack his brains_ to remember the other living son of the Senju main house. Anonymity was good!

Izuna glared, squirming in his bonds. “The hell do you think you’re doing, Senju? This is Uchiha territory! You think you’ll get away with this insult?”

Itama didn’t like the odds of Izuna wiggling out of his bonds so he straddled the Uchiha’s midsection, pinning his hands under him. Izuna flushed— out of anger, likely. “Oh, like your clan thought they could get away with suborning my brother?” Itama scowls. “I’m on to you, you bastards, your little scheme ends now.”

Izuna doesn’t respond to that — justified! — accusation. In fact, he’s staring at Itama somewhat pensively, brows twitching as he cycles through expressions too quick for Itama to follow, eventually settling somewhere between enlightenment and Oh Shit. 

Ha! That’s right! Itama caught him in the act! Suck on that, Uchiha!

“Huh,” is what Izuna does say. Infuriating.

“Is that all you have to say?!” Itama demands.

“Uh,” Izuna says intelligently. “I mean, fine! I’m guessing you’re on your way to Ishimura then?” 

“Not that it’s any of your business, but yes,” Itama huffs. “You, on the other hand, are not going anywhere near my brother!”

Izuna’s eyes went wide, jerking under Itama. “But you need to take me with!”

“Why should I?” Itama narrows his eyes, suspicious. “If you think you can just—”

“No, no, that’s not it!” Izuna interrupted loudly, squirming some more. “You need me to, uh, order Kagami to undo...whatever it was he did. He might run away if only you show up!” he added hastily in response to the mulish look Itama gave him.

...there is some logic to that. Damn it. What would Itama do if that awful Uchiha who stole his brother simply ran away? What _could_ he do? But if he took this Uchiha Kagami’s clan heir as hostage...it could work.

Itama lets Izuna sweat it out for a full minute under his stare before huffing, “Fine.” Better not to give the impression Itama _agreed_ with him or anything.

“Ah, and there’s another thing. Erm, it's a bit personal,” Izuna hedged, the flush, never having quite gone away, now resurges. Itama is instantly on guard.

“What?” He asks waspishly.

“Wire chafes my skin!” Izuna blurts, almost too fast to be comprehensible. Then he makes a rather concerning wheezing noise and attempts to twist his neck around to hide his face in the dirt.

“...you wanna try that again?”

“Look,” Izuna tries again, “Wires really chafe my skin, it’s awful, I look super blotchy. If I’m going to be your captive you have to treat me right and at least use some decent rope. None of that rough hemp stuff. Or I’ll just complain the whole way and make the trip misery for you!”

“Or,” Itama drawls, thoroughly unimpressed, “I could just gag you and limit the misery to you.”

Izuna swallows. Hard. And sweats a bit at the temples. Itama’s not trying to judge or anything, it’s no walk in the park being at another’s mercy like this, but. Wasn’t Izuna...a little too easy to intimidate? He’s pretty sure it would have come up before, Tobirama would have mentioned it. Maybe Izuna just didn’t like dealing with unknowns?

Oh whatever. Itama doesn’t have time for this, and frankly, being cruel to prisoners has never sat well with him. Only problem is…

“I didn’t pack any rope,” Itama says.

“That’s okay, I did!” Izuna says, suddenly cheerful. “It’s in my pack. You can’t miss it, it’s the bright red one.”

“Fine, fine. You Uchiha really are something else…” 


	2. More Morons part B

Izuna met Madara’s gaze in silence over The Letter— capitalization fully deserved— not quite sure what he’s feeling at the moment. 

Not quite sure of the stability of reality either, to be perfectly honest.

Madara looks just the same. There’s something haunted, something _hunted,_ in the way he stares into the distance, shoulders slumped, hand limp in his lap with the condemnatory scrap of paper cheerfully explaining a bit of madness so incomprehensible as to beggar belief. Why, oh why, would Kagami do _this._

Of all things he could have done.

Why this.

 _In what universe,_ Izuna wonders, _would Tobirama marry an Uchiha without said Uchiha being gruesomely killed?_

Since Izuna can think of no universe where that is possible he must conclude the equally distasteful though far more likely option.

“If I find out people have been ignoring signs of a dangerous obsession heads are going to roll,” Izuna grimly concludes out loud. And he does mean that literally. The Uchiha are not Hagoromo, they do not allow their most maddened kinsmen to run amok unchecked and unsupervised. There’s no better way to get themselves on everyone’s shitlist.

Madara started, looking at him in alarm. “What,” he croaked, “you think Kagami used genjutsu to coerce _Senju goddamn Tobirama_ into marrying him? _You_ can’t even catch him in a genjutsu and you’re twice Kagami’s strength. No, no, this is a Senju scheme, and we need to go rescue Kagami before he gets killed.”

“Oh come on, Aniki!” Izuna exclaimed, sweeping his arms out, narrowly missing the tea cups on the chabudai just to make Madara twitch. “I know Tobirama! I know him, okay? He’s a play dead bastard, a nasty trick jutsu up his sleeve bastard, but he’s not and never has been the kind of bastard that would hold someone hostage like this. Maybe Kagami got lucky, we don’t know!”

“But you do think Kagami is mad enough to try forcing Senju Tobirama’s compliance?” Madara replied incredulously. “Out of the blue like this, no warning signs of a building obsession beforehand? Do you even know Kagami?”

Izuna’s _ass_ is certainly well acquainted with Kagami’s foolishness. “Do you?” Izuna arched a brow, deflecting the question.

Madara grimaced. “Perhaps not… personally… very well.”

Izuna pointed at him, smug. “Ah!”

“That doesn’t mean anything!” Madara huffed, tossing the offending letter onto the chabudai. “I could still be right! Obsessed Uchiha don’t have the capacity to keep it subtle, that’s how we know to nab them before they become a danger to society at large. _Someone_ would have noticed if Kagami was going down the slippery slope, he’s too social.”

Izuna huffed but did have to concede the point. “Fine.”

“Fine,” Madara repeated, just as aggravated. “Regardless, we need to extract our own, and _I_ need to go yell at Hashirama to put a leash on his brother.”

Izuna manfully resists asking if that’s _all_ he wants to visit Hashirama for.

Some things simply weren’t worth asking.

Instead he merely watches idly as Madara hauls himself to his feet and grumbles his way down the hall to his office, presumably on a hunt for his good stationery. Izuna, personally, wouldn’t waste good paper on a buffoon like that but oh well, no accounting for his brother’s taste he guesses. 

Izuna waits until he hears his brother occupied before he snatched the letter from the chabudai, scanning it again. It’s definitely Kagami’s handwriting, and while the word choice doesn’t _seem_ panicked there’s definitely some excitement behind the strokes. Izuna’s not certain if that’s a clue or not. Yet. 

He blinked his sharingan to memorize it and tossed it back. No need to run off with evidence.

Quiet as a cat, he left the room and began to pack. Let Madara work the official side of this, Izuna was going to do something else that was just as vital.

Investigate.

He’d leave a note for Madara, of course. He wasn’t a complete cad.

Just enough cad to be interesting, really.

* * *

Somehow, Izuna barely makes it past his own front door it feels like before he gets body checked out of a tree by a cute Senju with a major bone to pick with Izuna’s everything. His now very bruised everything.

Fuck, Itama had some bony knees.

Izuna squirmed in his wire bonds, testing and flexing for any give. None. Damn it. He glared up at Senju Itama, haloed by the dappled light and the vibrant bright green of the trees above. “The hell do you think you’re doing, Senju? This is Uchiha territory! You think you’ll get away with this insult?”

Nevermind the mess a town over that will have both clans in a froth. Izuna’s thoughts spun, was Madara right, could this actually be a Senju scheme? First Kagami, then himself? That would make the next target…

But to have Itama go for him instead of Tobirama? That seemed weird. What Izuna had heard of Senju Itama suggested he was not the power house his older brothers were.

Then again… Itama had managed to get the — literal! — drop on him… and Izuna _was_ trussed up like a fish in a net…

If Izuna survived this Madara was never letting him live it down.

The Senju’s expression hardened and he leaned closer— no, he was climbing on top of him, a warm, heavy weight forcing down the arch of Izuna’s back and compressing his hands and wrists under their combined weight. Izuna tried not to wheeze, exhaling with as much control as he can manage. Itama’s face is much too close for Izuna’s comfort, the color split of his hair having a dizzyingly intriguing optical effect as Izuna’s gaze naturally darted between each dark eye—

 _Oh shit,_ he thinks, face growing warm. _That’s not good._

That thin mouth curled into an unsettlingly familiar thunderous scowl. Shamefully, it did nothing to return Izuna’s lost wits. “Oh, like your clan thought they could get away with suborning my brother? I’m onto you, you bastards, your little scheme ends now.”

Um.

_Um?_

Well that just had a wealth of implications, didn’t it? 

Izuna’s brain finally kicked back into action, examining this new information for odd angles. Clearly, Tobirama has also sent his family a letter containing a disbelievable message, possibly about being married and in love. Senju Itama being under the impression this was an Uchiha scheme didn’t entirely discount it being a Senju plot but it did make it increasingly unlikely. And no matter what Izuna argued earlier Madara did have a point that this was too out of the blue for it be the result of obsession, and Kagami wasn’t the type to enthrall enemies for such a creepy purpose besides.

So… who was telling the truth?

And what did the truth mean for dealing with this situation?

“Huh,” Izuna said intelligently. If both Kagami and Tobirama were telling the truth, then unless if was a scheme cooked up by both of them— in which case it was still working with the enemy — then…

Well. Tricking Itama into marrying him seemed the logical next step in figuring out this mystery. 

Don’t ask him how, he hasn’t figured it out yet.

In the meantime, there was a more immediate dilemma:

“Why am I being carried?” Izuna asked, face down over Itama’s shoulder. Not that he was protesting the view, mind you, Itama was a fit shinobi and it showed, it’s just— “We’d go faster if you let me walk.”

Izuna had his pride, okay? He may have tricked Itama into bride-napping him but he wasn’t actually a hapless maiden to be dragged off by a brute.

“Because I don’t trust you,” Itama replied easily.

“Ouch,” Izuna said dryly, “and here I thought we were united in purpose.”

“ _Co-existing_ purposes,” Itama corrected sharply. “Not the same purpose.”

Yes. Well. Izuna was having some serious doubts about that. Not all of them mind, just some.

“If you say so,” Izuna said airily, then went back to seriousness before Itama could do more than bristle, which, muscle-y shoulder in his gut right now; _ouch._ “But still, speed is kind of of the essence here and I’m not exactly a light weight to haul around. We’ll be faster if I walk.”

Itama huffed and hitched him more securely on his shoulder. Izuna… tried to think chaste thoughts about being manhandled. “As if you weigh more than a sack of rice, nice try! You’re my ticket to bringing my brother home so you’re staying put where I need you.” 

“You wouldn’t have to _untie_ me,” Izuna wheedled, squirming so he was lounging on both shoulders instead of draped over one, swallowing the brief lump of vertigo when Itama staggered, protesting, from the movement. This way Izuna had a good view of Itama’s profile. (It was currently twisted up in annoyance but those flashing eyes! Those flushed cheeks! The angry pout! Izuna wanted to coo and poke his face just to watch it scrunch up more.) 

“I’m just saying, a hogtie is not a feasible position to keep someone in long term. If you keep me tied up like this I’m gonna get a cramp and then _you_ will be the one having to rub it out because I will whine at you. And as we have already established; you’re not cruel to prisoners.” Izuna finished, sly.

Itama made a choked noise, flushing and nearly tripping. Izuna hastily arranged his face to look as innocent as possible when Itama glared at him. Innuendo? What innuendo? Perfectly well meaning Uchiha here! Nothing suspicious going on, honest!

“You-!” Itama looked away and took a deep, deliberate breath. “Tobirama’s right. You are _the worst._ ” And saying such, flexed his grip Izuna’s legs and shoulders, bent his knees, and gathered himself for a leap up into the branches above that Izuna caught full in the side. Izuna manfully repressed a wheeze. 

Then Itama’s hands settled securely on the back of Izuna’s thigh and nape and he wanted to wheeze for an entirely different reason.

Izuna knew his strength kink was alive and well but was Itama trying to kill him with the casual manhandling?

Izuna was only a man! How was he supposed to hold out like this?

“So,” Izuna chokes out, a touch desperate, “Tobirama talks about me, huh? How offended should I be?”

Itama paused on a branch and sighed. Loudly. “Do you ever stop talking?”

“It’s a legitimate question!” Izuna defended.

“So is mine!” Itama replied, hopping to the next branch. “Actually, don’t bother answering. Just stop talking! This is a kidnapping! That I’m trying to be… unobtrusive, about.” Itama’s face scrunched with some kind of unhappy emotion. Possibly questioning his life choices. “Why did it have to be _you.”_

“Serendipity?” Izuna offered helpfully.

The burning side eye Itama shot him suggested it wasn’t actually very helpful.

Izuna resisted the smile, Itama would only take it for pure provocation. A true shame, as Izuna was being won over by his pragmatic daring and charming angry face, and Izuna should not be the only one here plagued by inconvenient feelings.

In the pure interests of fairness, of course.

Nothing at all to do with revenge for Izuna’s own inconvenient feelings.

That’s alright though, Izuna will be patient and in the meantime he can contemplate what, exactly, is going on with his most aggravating opponent and what _was_ one of his most sensible kinsmen. Certainly isn’t going to keep _that_ moniker any longer. Really, Izuna expected better of Kagami. Or at least his _taste,_ Tobirama really?

Izuna sighed, flexed his wrists and ankles in a futile attempt to ease some tension, and sighed some more, pointedly louder.

Predictably, the jut of Itama’s chin grew mulish as he ignored him.

Izuna hummed, letting his gaze move away from the Senju at last. They were coming out of Uchiha territory, he could see it in the undergrowth below growing scruffier, less scrupulously maintained to prevent forest fires. Say what you will about Uchiha being pyromaniacs, they knew better than to let their home burn down around their ears. Except, of course, for when a good burn was necessary to encourage new growth.

Izuna quite liked the metaphor of burning out the chaff to grow buds in the ashes. It was clean. Refreshing. A rare chance to hold the throbbing heart of life in your palm without the soot tasting bitterly of destruction for destruction’s sake.

He wondered if Itama might agree.

Actually, speaking of throbbing…

“I’m getting a cramp,” Izuna announced.

“Oh, here we go,” Itama muttered. Then, at a conversational volume, “can it wait a few minutes? I want to get a bit further before we stop.”

“It’s pretty painful,” Izuna said apologetically. “It’s in my thigh, the one under your hand. Maybe if you just kneaded it a bit—”

“That’s it, I’m dropping you!”

“Wait!”


End file.
